alexchilltown

[alexchilltown]

VOX - July, 1996

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Unseen pictures shared by Aki_21jack on Insta

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Kerrang! Magazine - November 28, 1998

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Melody Maker magazine - January 31, 1998

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Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, 1997

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this hit home

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The art of the catastrophe calms me down.

Roland Barthes, from A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments tr. Richard Howard (via lifeinpoetry)

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Transcend yourself to be your better self ✨

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Nosferatu D2- Springsteen

If I told you there was a singular more important band or record to Alex Chilltown than Nosferatu D2 and “We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise” then I would be lying. 

The first Chilltown stuff I wrote that I really felt connected into the idea of what I want to do and the whole Chilltown minimal style came from trying to rip off the way Ben Parker plays guitar on this (albeit with way more guitar pedals). 

I find it hard to word why, but in my opinion this is probably the greatest post-punk record ever made, it’s start to finish, no filler, every song absolute catharsis, instruments that switch between playing with each other to sounding like a fight. It’s probably anxiety made audible. Lyrically Ben has always been just one of the best “stream of consciousness but focused” writers probably ever. Adam’s drumming is literally quite ridiculously good.

Nothing about this record on paper should work but it does and it was about 10-12 years ahead of when anybody could have made any money from it. I love it and I love it more for the fact it will never get the pitchfork documentary it deserves. 

Springsteen was the first song I heard but I literally could pick any of them. 

From a practical point of view, this record changed our lives, if it wasn’t for this record I certainly wouldn’t be doing Chilltown the way I am and Jamie from Audio Antihero who put it out, has helped me immeasurably at every step of the way of making music and his kindness cannot be overstated. He’s a very good egg who keeps putting out great records. 

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Pavement-Father to a Sister of Thought

Pavement were a really important band to me when I started doing this and this was probably the most important song. It’s probably not what Stephen Malkmus intended but in true Roland Barthes ‘death of the author’ fashion I find this song really spiritual. 

I really like the way that steel just soars over the chords and the kind of slightly alt-country vibe to everything and the “you’re so mystic...” line is the bit that really just sticks in my mind. 

The major-minor-major chord progression thing is something that I really love too. I think it’s the same chord structure as I am trying to break your heart by Wilco and Plastic Cup by Low and This a low by Blur. There’s something about that, that just feels sombre and soulful in my brain somewhere. 

I wouldn’t say this is my favourite Pavement album for songs but I think its my favourite Pavement album as a piece of art. There’s this combination of ambition to try different things and indifference to if people like it to Wowee Zowee that’s just completely enthralling as someone who makes music to get to a place where you feel confident enough that you can basically make such a juxtaposition of an album. 

It’s a song that I’d listen to late at night a lot, coming back from places, with really low battery, thinking about all the decisions you’d made. I really don’t want to sound like Pavement at all anymore but I think Pavement are one of those bands that you extra appreciate when you’re in a band and you kind of see all the extra bits of what they were doing. 

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Nothing left to say, Don’t it always rain, on bank holidays, don’t notice anyway. 

https://havanatapes.bandcamp.com/track/cwtch

Photo (C) Adele M. Reed.

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Things We’re Listening to:

1.The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Belong

2.Nosferatu D2- WGWATCWOHOTBOTN

3. Siouxsie and The Banshees- The Scream

4. My Bloody Valentine-Loveless 

5. The Halo Benders- The Rebels Not In